Aircraft



VJuly 28, 1925. j

' J. MICHAUD 'AIRCRAFT Filed- Aug. 27, 1925 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS Patented July 2s, 1925.

JOSEPH menu, OF LODI, CALIFORNIA.

AIRCRAFT.

"animation med August 27, 1923. serial No'. 659,613.

To all l07mm #may concern.'

Beit knownthat I, JOSEPH MICHAUD, a g citizen of Canada, residing at Lod1, county of San Joaquin, and StateI of California,

'5 have invented a new and useful Improvement in Aircraft, of which the following 1s a. specification.

This lnvention relatestol improvements in 'i 'aircraftf of the heavier than airl type,l and one ofthe objects ofthe invention is to pro- 'vide means forraising an aircraft inthe air i 'vertically and -for driving it ahead after the desired altitude has been reached.

Another object is. to -provide tiltable planes or wings with propellers mounted thereon, and means for driving the propellers at any angle ofthe planes from horizontal to vertical'.

"Another object is to provide a propeller 2l) .of-novel design which will be more peffective whenusedin conjunction with my aircraft.

Another object is to make an airplane unit which vmaybe coupled together in multiple and driven in unison to forman aircraft of any practical size. Other Objectswill appear as the description proceeds.V v

An embodiment of the Invention isshown in the accompanying drawing mwhlch the i $0 same reference numeral is applied tov the same portion throughout, 4but I am aware that there may be modifications'the'reof.

Figure 1 .is a front elevation of the aircraft when used singly. Figure 2 is a plan y of the aircraft, Figure 3 a side elevation of 3. vFigure 5 is 4a front elevation of the aircraft .shown in Figure 4, Figure 6 is .a detail of the means' for tilting the. planes.

Figure 7 is'an end viewpartly in. section showing means for connecting the engine and propellers. Figure 8 is a plan of one of the propellers. Figure 9 is an edge view of i, the propeller shown ingFigure 8.4 Figure 10 is a sectional view of a' portion' of the propeller. Figure 10a is a detached view of 50. one of the propeller blades.l Figure 11 is a view of a portion ofthe intermediate'brace for the propeller. Figure 12 is aside eleva-l tion of a modified form of aircraft-built up of unit monoplanes and biplanes. Flgure l13 is a: plan of the aircraft shown in Figure12. Figure 14 is a View partly in sectionl showing Athe arrangement of gearing for driving the stationary .lifting propeller's and Figure 15 is a view partly in section taken O11 line 15-15 of Figure 14.

The numeral 1 indicates a fuselage and mounted on the fuselage. is. a frame 2 von which a plane or wing 3 is pivoted t'o swing from! a horizontal to a vertical position. The ends of' this plane are curved in an upward direction at 3 in order to permit same to maintain its equilibrium.

The plane 3 carries the propellers 4 and 5 which have shafts G-G mounted in bearings S and 9 fixed to the' plane l3.

A count-erweight 10 is provided to balance the propellers and isattachcd to the plane by the frame 11.

The fuselage isprovided with suitable landing gear 12 and has the nage 13. 4

`The plane may have suitable control ailerons of well known construction if found desirable. Means yfor lbalancing the fuselage is shown in dotted lines in Figure 3 and a detail in Figure 4?. It consists of the upper track 15 and the lower track 1G suitably supported and adapted to form a track and guide for the grooved .wheels 17 and 1S which are mounted on shafts 19 and 20 fixedto the framey 21 a cable 22 is attached to one end of the frame and run over pulleys 223-24 and 25 and to the other endof the frame. The cable may be in reach of the pilot whereby .the carriage can be pulled back and forth to iind the balancing point, any suitable means may be used to hold the rope and carriage in any position such as the clamp 28.

The propelle-rs 4 and 5 are driven by means of the engine 29 mounted inA the fuselage through bevel gears 30 and 31, shaft 32, bevel orears 33 and 34, shaft 235 bevel gears 35. and .3?, shaft 6. The shaft 35 is mounted on the frameby bearings 38 to 41 inclusive. The plane 3 has bearing brackets fixed thereto which carrytlle bearings 42 to 45 inclullSllll Glllpellsive, thereby allowing the plane 3 to swing with the shaft 35 as a pivot.

vThe shaft 32 journaled in bearings 4G and 47. The plane with the propellcrs areI tilted bym'ean's of a cable or chain. In thisv instance a cable 4S is shown, one cnd of which is iiXcd to the plane at 49, and passed around the pulleys 50 and' 1 to the other edgeofthe plane at 49. The pulley 50 is fixed Aon the shaft 52` and mounted in the loo zontal to a vertical position, or at. any angle,-`

and held by means of thejtoothed wheel 59 and pawl 60, the pawl can be turned around H on its pivot to hold the wheel against resistance fromeither direction. l

The propeller consists A of twocircular rings 59 and 60 made preferably of T iron concentric with the hub 61, and spaced apart by the rods 62. Any number of blades 62 may be used; in this instance four are shown.-

These blades-are fixed to the rings and-to lthe hub, and have anintermediate bracing ring 63 which isl bent to conform to the pitch of the' blades as shown in Figure 11l land is firmly fixed thereto. Brackets G11. are

bolted to the hub 61 and have bolts G5 passing through the shaft 6.

The modified form shown in Figures and 13 comprises an aircraft of large capacity made up of tiltable monoplanes- G6 the same as described above alternated with stationary biplanes 67 mounted o'n a fuselage 68 havinfr the well .knownforiii of einpennage 69. DThe'se planes have their` ends curv- .cd upward at' 69a. for the purpose referred to herein. f'

A main drive shaftf() extends longitudinally inthe top portion of the fuselage in this instance, but maybe placed on top and outside vof the fuselage or onthe side or any desired position, and has an engine 71 at each'l end adapted to drive the shaft in unison. The propellers on the tiltable planes are driven from the shaft through gears 74 and 75 and shaft 76; the shaft 76. correspondsto shaft 32 and is geared to the propelleis in the same way. 77 are providedfor the shaft. 70 in spaced relation. Each pair of stationary propellers 73 is provided with a clutch 7 8 which may be of any form and connectst-he gears 79 and 80 with the shafts 81 and 82 which have the gears 83 and 84; adapted to drive the propeller-s through the shafts 85 and 85.

The clutch 7 9 is disengaged by the lever 861, and held in contact by the spring 87 acting against the collar SSon the shaft 70.

In starting the inonoplane from the ground` the planes are tilted to the vertical I position, the engine is startedl and the plane rises vertically; when the desired altitude' is reached the-plane is til-ted back to the horizontal position whereupon the plane is driven forward.l It maybe found desirable tov make the starting flight from tli'e ground at an, angle instead of straight up which is accomplished by setting the plane at the required angle. l v

Suitable bearings In'thef operationof the large aircraft' all the `monoplanes are tilted to they vertical position, 'the Aengines are stai-ted, driving.

the main shaft, 'and through it all the ropellers, after the desired altitude is reac ed,

the monoplanes are tilted back to normal position, and the stationary horizontal prof pellers are stopped by throwing out the' clutches. In making a landing the clutches are again thrown inv and the engines are slowed up to allow the aircraft to settle to a landing.4

I have described an aircraft with two.

engines, but it is obvious that a number of engines or power plants could be connectedl to the main shaft-by means of clutches so that for extraordinary speed all the engines could be used,.but for the purpose of keeping up in the air one or two engines would be suiiicient; this would make flying much safer.4 -In landing instead of slowing up the engines' a variable speed gearing or clutch .could be used.y

l/Vhile I liaveshown only the preferred form of` my invention I wish it to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the claims hereto attached without departing from the spirit of the invention. i

I claim: v l. An aircraft Iof the class described,l com- .prising a fuselage, a frame on said fuselage,

rality of .propellrs on shafts mounted o n;

the plane, an engine in said fuselage, a pair of bevel gears connecting the shaft of said engine with a vertical s'liaft, gears connecting said vertical shaft with apivot shaft extending to gears on the ypropeller shafts of said plane, bearings for` said shafts, some secured to the frame and some to the plane 'whereby the pivot shaft becomes the point of suspensionof the fuselage from the plane, and means for tilting said plane on said pivot shafts.

3. In an aircraft of the character described, a tiltable main supporting plane having a drivingA .propeller operatively mounted thereon and tiltable therewith, means for maintaining the balance of the aircraft upon tilting the plane and propeller, comprising a round weight rollable along a track in the fuselage and .means for holding it in adjusted position.

4. vA naircraftof the class described comioo iio

'prisjng afuselage7 a frame on said'fuselage; a' planelpivoted on said vframe and adapted j. vtofeontrol lthe tilting'- movement ofsaidplane@ u kto swing from a horizontal to a vertical posi-uytion, propellers jon saldplane, counterweights projecting opposite lsaid j vpropellers means and A.angle ofi'said plane.

" mounted o n said fuselage said monoplanes 5. An aircraft' comprising a' `fuselage, a

plurality of tilta-ble mon'oplanes'mounted 0nsaidfuselage,v a plurality of iixed biplanes van'd said biplanes being"alternately` spaced from eacli other, propellers on said tiltable planes at oppositeA sides of--thel fuselage,

Qli-fting' Propellers adjac'entthe'frontedge o .f

eaehofsaid bipla'nes at, opposite sides of the meansfor driving said propelf;

" y 4 `"lage,@propeller-earriedfbysaid planeand- "Ineans v'on said plane to counterbal'ance the fuselage and 1ers..

6. An aircraft 'comprisirg a fuselagea plurality of tiltablelinonoplane's; alternated v .u with fixed biplanes mounted on said fuselage, L

eentthe front edge of said biplanes a main saidpropellers trom said shaft.

7. Aircraft vincluding, avtilting 'plane,' means for tiltingthe plane bodily, and an angularly I adjustable propeller associated :withsaid plane 'to' constantly maintain a 'fixed relation .thereto and a we iglit means" carried lby s lsaid propeller. l

` 8. A'reraft including a fuselage balancing aid plane for counterbalaneing `meanstherefor movable in the length thereof Vtov respectively diierent positions, asustainingplane mounted to tilt upon said fuse- Weightuof said pr0pel1er A JOSEPH' LHCHAUD.

',dlriye' shaft mounted in bearings longitudin- ,y

lfalf'ly'of' said fuselage, one ori-more engines or driving said shaft and means to driwje means tojdiivesaid propellersat any .1 

